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Putin-Phobia, the Only Bipartisan Game in Town

Few issues generate a bipartisan response in Washington.
President Donald Trump’s upcoming summit with Russian
President Vladimir Putin is one.

Democrats who once pressed for détente with the Soviet Union act
as if Trump will be giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
Neoconservatives and other Republican hawks are equally horrified,
having pressed for something close to war with Moscow since the
latter’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Both sides act as if
the Soviet Union has been reborn and Cold War has restarted.

Russia’s critics present a long bill of requirements to be
met before they would relax sanctions or otherwise improve
relations. Putin could save time by agreeing to be an American
vassal.

Topping everyone’s list is Russian interference in the
2016 election, which was outrageous. Protecting the integrity of
our democratic system is a vital interest, even if the American
people sometimes treat candidates with contempt. Before joining the
administration National Security Adviser John Bolton even called
Russian meddling “a casus belli, a true act of
war.”

Hawks and doves in
Washington agree Vlad is bad. Can Trump act as the lone
realist?

Yet Washington has promiscuously meddled in other nations’
elections. Carnegie Mellon’s Dov H. Levin figured that
between 1946 and 2000 the U.S. government interfered with 81
foreign contests, including the 1996 Russian poll. Retired U.S.
intelligence officers freely admit that Washington has routinely
sought to influence other nations’ elections.

Yes, of course, Americans are the good guys and favor
politicians and parties that the other peoples would vote for if
only they better understood their own interests—as we
naturally do. Unfortunately, foreign governments don’t see
Uncle Sam as a Vestal Virgin acting on behalf of mankind. Indeed,
Washington typically promotes outcomes more advantageous to, well,
Washington. Perhaps Trump and Putin could make a bilateral
commitment to stay out of other nations’ elections.

Another reason to shun Russia, argued Senator Rob Portman, is
because “Russia still occupies Crimea and continues to fuel a
violent conflict in eastern Ukraine.” Moscow annexed Crimea
after a U.S.-backed street putsch ousted the elected but highly
corrupt Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. The territory
historically was Russian, turned over to Ukraine most likely as
part of a political bargain in the power struggle following Joseph
Stalin’s death. A majority of Crimeans probably wanted to
return to Russia. However, the annexation was lawless.

Rather like America’s dismemberment of Serbia, detaching
Kosovo after mighty NATO entered the final civil war growing out of
the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Naturally, the U.S. again had right
on its side—it always does!—which obviously negated any
obligations created by international law. Ever-virtuous Washington
even ignored the post-victory ethnic cleansing by Albanian
Kosovars

Still, this makes Washington’s complaints about Russia
seem just a bit hypocritical: do as we say, not as we do. In August
2008 John McCain expressed outrage over Russia’s war with
Georgia, exclaiming: “In the 21st century, nations
don’t invade other nations.” Apparently he forgot that
five years before the U.S. invaded Iraq, with McCain’s
passionate support. Here, too, the two presidents could agree to
mutual forbearance.

Worse is the conflict in the Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, between
the Ukrainian army and separatists backed by Russia. Casualty
estimates vary widely, but are in the thousands. Moscow
successfully weakened Kiev and prevented its accession to NATO.
However, that offers neither legal nor moral justification for
underwriting armed revolt.

Alas, the U.S. again comes to Russia with unclean hands.
Washington is supporting the brutal war by Saudi Arabia and United
Arab Emirates against Yemen. Area specialists agree that the
conflict started as just another violent episode in a country which
has suffered civil strife and war for decades. The Houthis, a
tribal/ethnic/religious militia, joined with their long-time enemy,
former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, to oust his successor,
Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi attacked to reinstall a
pliable regime and win economic control. The U.S. joined the
aggressors. At least Russia could claim national security was
at stake, since it feared Ukraine might join NATO.

The “coalition” attack turned the Yemeni conflict
into a sectarian fight, forced the Houthis to seek Iranian aid, and
allowed Tehran to bleed its Gulf rivals at little cost. Human
rights groups agree that the vast majority of civilian deaths and
bulk of destruction have been caused by Saudi and Emirati bombing,
with Washington’s direct assistance. The humanitarian crisis
includes a massive cholera epidemic. The security consequences
include empowering al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Perhaps the
U.S. and Russian governments could commit to jointly forgo
supporting war for frivolous causes.

Human carnage and physical destruction are widespread in Syria.
It will take years to rebuild homes and communities; the hundreds
of thousands of dead can never be replaced. Yet Moscow has gone all
out to keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power. The Heritage
Foundation’s Luke Coffey and Alexis Mrachek demand that
Moscow end its support for Assad “and demonstrate a genuine
willingness to work with the international community to bring a
political end to the Syrian civil war.” The American
Enterprise Institute’s Leon Aron urged “a true Russian
withdrawal from Syria, specifically ceding control of the Hmeymim
airbase and dismantling recent expansions to the Tartus naval
facility.”

But the U.S. is in no position to complain. Washington’s
intervention has been disastrous, first discouraging a negotiated
settlement, then promoting largely non-existent moderate
insurgents, backing radicals, including the al-Qaeda affiliate
(remember 9/11!?) against Assad, simultaneously allying with Kurds
and Turks, and taking over the fight against the Islamic State even
though virtually everyone in the Mideast had reason to oppose the
group.

At least Russia, invited by the recognized government, had a
reason to be there. Moscow’s alliance with Syria dates back
to the Cold War and poses no threat to America, which is allied
with Israel, the Gulf States, Turkey, Jordan, and Egypt. Washington
also possesses military facilities in Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt,
Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey,
and United Arab Emirates. For most Middle Eastern countries Moscow
is primarily a bargaining chip to extort more benefits from
America. Trump could propose that both countries withdraw from
Syria.

Coffey and Mracek also express outrage that Moscow “has
weaponized its natural gas exports to Europe, turning off the tap
when countries dare go against its wishes.” Russia’s
customers should not fear coercion via cut-off. Of course, the U.S.
never uses its economic power for political ends. Other than to
routinely impose economic sanctions on a variety of nations on its
naughty list. And to penalize not only American firms, but
businesses from every other nation.

Indeed, the Trump administration is insisting that every company
in every country stop doing business with Iran. The U.S. government
will bar violators from the U.S. market or impose ruinous fines on
them. The Trump administration plans to sanction even its European
allies, those most vulnerable to Russian energy politics. Which
suggests a modus vivendi that America’s friends
likely would applaud: both Washington and Moscow could promise not
to take advantage of other nations’ economic vulnerabilities
for political ends.

Cyberwar is a variant of economic conflict. Heritage’s
Mracek cited “the calamitous cyberattack, NotPetya,” as
“part of Russia’s effort to destabilize Ukraine even
further than in the past.” Yes, a criminal act. Of course,
much the same could be said of Stuxnet, which was thought to be a
joint American-Israeli assault on Iran’s nuclear program. And
there are reports of U.S. attempts to similarly hamper North Korean
missile development. Some consider such direct attacks on other
governments to be akin to acts of war. Would Washington join Moscow
in a pledge to become a good cyber citizen?

Virtually everyone challenges Russia on human rights. Moscow
falls far short, with Putin’s control of the media,
manipulation of the electoral process, and violence against those
perceived as regime enemies. In this regard, at least, America is
far better.

But many U.S. allies similarly fail this test. For instance,
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has created an authoritarian
state retaining merely the forms of democracy. Egypt’s
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has constructed a tyranny more
brutal than that of Hosni Mubarak. Saudi Arabia’s monarchy
allows neither religious nor political freedom, and has grown more
repressive under Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. It is not just
Trump who remains largely silent about such assaults on
people’s basic liberties. So do many of the president’s
critics, who express horror that he would deal with such a man as
Putin.

Moscow will not be an easy partner for the U.S. Explaining that
“nobody wanted to listen to us” before he took over, in
March Putin declared: “You hear us now!” Compromise is
inevitable, but requires respect for both nations’ interests.
A starting point could be returning the two nations’
embassies to full strength and addressing arms control, such as the
faltering Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and
soon-expiring Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. A larger
understanding based on NATO ending alliance expansion in return for
Russia withdrawing from the conflict in the Donbas would be worth
pursuing.

Neither the U.S. nor the Russian Federation can afford to allow
their relations to deteriorate into another Cold War. Russia is too
important on too many issues, including acting as a counterweight
to China, the most serious geopolitical challenge to the U.S.
Hopefully the upcoming summit will begin the difficult process of
rebuilding a working relationship between Washington and
Moscow.